


Written In The Stars, Love Was An Ever-Fixed Mark

by Hypothetical_Warped_Spacetime



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Garcy Soulmate AU, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 11:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15118145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypothetical_Warped_Spacetime/pseuds/Hypothetical_Warped_Spacetime
Summary: - - - -There are some souls that always have a way of finding each other. Across time. Across space. Their convergence inevitable.- - - -This will loosely follow canon after the prologue, but with underlining 'Soulmate' themes. Later chapters could turn 'M' - I'll note a warning whenever it does.





	Written In The Stars, Love Was An Ever-Fixed Mark

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to hold off until the fight to save Timeless was over. However I think we all need a little escapism from the campaigning and I hope this provides that for some of you. This prologue was largely influenced by the Mountain Between Us soundtrack, "Separation" was played on endless loop during the writing process.
> 
> Happy Reading!
> 
> Disclaimer: Owns nothing.

_-Written In The Stars, Love Was An Ever-Fixed Mark-_

_Prologue:_

Separation

**March, 2004**

Flynn:

_8:30am - Croatia_

The old bridge at the center of the botanical gardens creaked and groaned under his shuffling feet. He slides the wool of his coat sleeve back and shakes his hand to adjust his wrist watch back down. Lorena would be there in thirty minutes.

“We met here by chance-” Flynn said to himself lowly, his fingers were itching as he continued to fight off the compulsion to check his pocket once again for the velvet box. “Lorena, four years ago-” he begins again, moving out of the way of a jogger and smiling kindly at her as she passed. 

Flynn sighs and leans a against the banister of the bridge. There's a firm pressure as the wood pressed against his stomach. He observes a bird that landed and swam toward him; it began to dip it's head and wiggle its body, the water cascading down the feathers of its back.

Ripples expand from the movement causing his reflection to distort and stretch. He watches the moment his face contorts in confusion, the way it mirrored back at him in fragments from the water as heat blossomed deep inside his chest; feeling as if someone was holding a match directly under the edges of where his tattoo was.

 _Something isn't right..._ he thinks as sweat immediately gathered along his brow. A profound fear slamming into his gut like a wrecking ball so unexpectedly that he almost stutters backward. Huffing and puffing, his panting filling his ears and muffling out the sounds of the city.

Over the years he's felt his other half. Felt her emotions like the feather light touch of a painter's brush ghosting over the surface of his skin. Brief and fleeting sentiments blooming sporadically. But it was never this debilitating, it was never this potent. It was as if he was experiencing it first hand.

Flynn tries to steady his breathing and recover the control over his body- drawing in a long pull of cold crisp air only to find it wet and impossibly heavy in his lungs. Like drowning on dry land the phantom water began to suffocate him. Shivers running rapid throughout him, knees trembling as he grabbed at the rail of the bridge; squeezing until his knuckles turned white. 

Then a wave of desperation hits him, his chest deflating, heart clenching. He pinches his eyes together, trying to keep himself standing when a shadow heartbeat is felt weakly beating beneath his own. It's not until his knees hit the ground with the thud that he realized his legs gave out, or that he was screaming out in agony. 

_She's dying-_

There's a hand on his shoulder. A kind and gentle voice of a concerned citizen speaks to him but he couldn't hear the words.

“I can't breathe-” He manages to whine out, “-I can't see.”

Rocking back and forward, Flynn's freehand comes up to claw at his chest where the words were throbbing. His head turns up to the sky, eyesight was blurred over completely. “Please-” he begs. But not to the gentleman or the sudden group of people surrounding him. To the universe- to God- to whoever was listening out there- and more importantly to _her,_ wherever she was. 

He's still gazing upward when the milky vision finally cleared. The blueberry emptiness of the sky taking its place. “Please.” he whispers as the minutes stretched onward, as the heartbeat faltered and faded; as the intense heat under his skin dissipated. He shuddered when it was quickly replaced by a horrendous chill that could have been the breath of death tickling at his spine. 

The last thing to leave was the fear. The entire impression of her was gone-

Ebbing and flowing away from him in the way that ships left your view from the horizon. He wanted nothing more for it to return, for something, anything, even if it crippled him once again; to breach and convey that what he just felt wasn't their souls separating. That somewhere in the world whatever she just went through she came out of it safe.

That she was still alive.

“Son, are you alright?” The man asked once more. A look of horror remained prominent in all the faces around him, as they all regarded him on his knees still clutching his chest and holding fast to the railing of the bridge. What a terrible scene they've all just witnessed. What a terrible sight he must be.

“I- yeah.” Flynn mutters. Nodding his head as he attempted to stand, though his legs wobbled and he knew better than to force it, so he released his hold, wincing as the blood returned to his fingers. Flexing the soreness away as he sat with his spine pressed to the banisters. He lulled his head back to catch the stranger's eyes. “I'm okay.”

“Do you need me to call someone?”

“My girlfriend should be here soon.” Flynn reassured.

Seemingly satisfied that Flynn was at the least lucid enough now; the gentleman leaves him. The group of people crossing over his legs and carrying on with their lives.

Once they're all paying less attention to the crazy man on the bridge. He peeled off some of the buttons on his coat, slipping his fingers through the slit between two buttons on his shirt. Ghosting over his skin and touching where he knew the words were etched.

They were still warm, they almost felt like they were pulsing.

“Garcia?” Lorena's voice calls from a distance to his right; he turns his head toward the sound to look at her. She rushes forward once she realizes he's the one sitting on the bridge.

“What happened to you?” concern laced her voice as she fell to her knees beside him, cradling his face between her gloved hands. “God, you look blue-”

“It's-” Flynn swallows thickly, slipping his fingers out of his shirt and pulling at one of her wrists. Laying a kiss at the center of her palm. “it's nothing, I'm fine.” he lies; because how do you tell the woman that you love, that you have all intentions of marrying and spending the rest of his life with- that half of his soul would never belong to her. That half of it just potentially died.

“You know, you're a terrible liar.” Lorena's eyebrows pull together as she falls back from her haunches and shimmies in beside him, pressing her head onto his arm. “And you can talk to me, about whatever it is tha-”

“It was her.” He interrupted quietly, lowering his cheek to the top of her head. “Something happened to her.”

“Who?”

“My soulmate.” 

He rubs at his forehead, applying a firm pressure as he pinched his fingers and skin together toward the middle. “I felt her in a way that I've never felt before.” Lorena turns her cheek and kisses his shoulder. “I felt her dying.”

She's silent for a long time before she lifts her head away from his, and he's too afraid to look at her; not sure he wanted to see what might be written on her face.

The leather is smooth as it slides under his jaw, gently coaxing him to turn his face toward her. Sadness darkened the usual brightness in her eyes. The words she speaks are tender and soft in a way that was just naturally her. “Did you look at your tattoo?”

“I can't bring myself to.” He admits.

She nods and then turns back to face forward. Pulling at the fingertips of her glove and slipping her hand out. Flopping it against his thigh and spreading her fingers open, waiting for him to entangle his with hers.

“I'm sorry Garcia.” She said once their hands were locked.

Flynn felt like he failed his soulmate in someway, that him being where he was at prevented destiny; having stopped searching for her the minute Lorena entered his life. And now his entire tattoo was a lie, a burden he'd carry forever.

_I'm sorry..._

He feels tears string at the backs of his eyes, and words cease in his throat as the reality of it all washes through him. So instead of speaking he presses a kiss to Lorena's temple.

-x-

They sit on the bridge unmoving for what could have been hours. It was long enough that the sun was now peaked high in the sky. Long enough that his bottom numbed and his back muscles whined, the tips of their noses tinting a rose color.

It's only when the people started to curse at them for all the inconveniencing that they were causing; and one very vocal woman to say something along the lines of, _'there are dozens of benches made for asses, why don't you two idiots move to one of them'_

Flynn apologized before Lorena could snap back at her. Standing up and offering her his hands. They're taking up less space as Lorena hugged herself into his side (and she makes sure to shoot a glare at the woman before turning her attention outward to the pond) rubbing at his back. Offering him her presence as well as her silence as she waited patiently for him to gather himself.

“Do you remember the last time we were here?” Flynn said. 

“Of course I remember.” She laughs and a smile tugs at his lips just from the sound. “I literally knocked you off your feet and lost a camera because of it.” 

He's still smiling as she pulls out of his embrace and takes a minor step to the right of him. “It fell in somewhere over there.” she points to a spot in the water. 

“First of all you bumped into me.” He chuckles coming up to her and caressing her upper arm. “I wasn't suppose to be here that morning, but something compelled me to turn this way instead of my usual path.

The day I met you I was convinced that the universe got it all wrong, that it was finally correcting my real trajectory. That no matter what my tattoo said, you were the person I was meant to spend the rest of my life with. I didn't even get your name that day, your sister pulled you away so quickly-” 

“Garcia, you might have just lost your-” She starts but he bites at his lips and shakes his head. 

“Just bear with me-” Flynn asked softly, skimming a cold finger over the curve of her cheek.

“Okay.” She turns into his touch. Staring at him with so much adoration.

His pulse quickens, he takes a few minutes to think the words through before continuing. “Imagine me in Afghanistan, years later, when my squad mate... your own brother, received a care package from home... and suddenly there you were again. That picture brought me so much hope. Lorena, how else do you explain that, what are the actual odds of that happening?”

Tears swelled in her eyes, as she shook her head. He views them slip and fall over the curve of her cheeks, his thumb brushing one away. “And today... what just happened.”

He takes a step forward and brings his forehead down to hers. Her hands pulling at the lapel of his coat. Flynn's voice quivers as he ushers in just above a whisper. “I don't care if my soul is only half mine. My heart always knew what it wanted, and it'll always be you.”

“The universe can just readjust itself.” Lorena mumbles before capturing his lips.

_Garcia Flynn doesn't propose to Lorena that morning in the gardens. Has to pretend to use the bathroom to call Stiv and tell him to break the news to the family that they wouldn't be coming by for celebration. That he would explain why later._

_The moment didn't feel right anymore and it was unfair to Lorena to have her memory of their proposal- of the start of their life together- tainted by the unknown woman tied to him._

_(Who may be dead because he wasn't there for her.)_

_When they return late in the afternoon he watches with a sorrow he couldn't mask as she slowly pried the buttons off his shirt. Eyes searching his in question, nonverbally asking if he perhaps wanted to do this alone._

_His hands were resting on her hips, he rubs over the soft patch of exposed skin, forcing a warm smile while ignoring the pang of longing that flushes throughout his soul for something it had felt only briefly before it was ripped away._

_“It'll change nothing. If it's in color, if it turned white, I meant every word I said.” He told her with as much confidence and sincerity as he could._

_She kisses him as she peels the fabric back, his eyes remaining shut for a while even after she pulled away. When there was relief on her features instead of sadness... He finds the strength to look down. There they were, the burgundy as bright as ever. **You Saved Me...**_

_The tips of her fingers traced over the words.“Why is it hot?” she seemed in awe of the sensation._

_“I don't know.”_

* * *

Lucy:

_11:30pm – California_

“I know what you're going to say- that I worked far too hard to get to where I am and that I am _so intelligent._ ” The blinker clicks as she waits to turn onto the backroad. “I know that chasing a wild dream isn't statistically wise, but what if some of our idols who were told not to pursue their dreams listened and quit? For once in my life I just want to do something I _chose_ to do...”

“You can do this... You can be selfish for once.” She mutters to herself.

Leaning forward, Lucy turns the radio on, letting the soft pop drown out her thoughts. She's humming and tapping against the steering wheel when high beams start flashing from behind her- the car pushing up to her bumper and retreating, getting closer and closer with each threatening push.

“What do you want me to do!” she shouts at the rearview mirror. Pushing her foot on the pedal and increasing her speed as she approached the small bridge in the road.

Too distracted by the aggressive driver behind her to notice the oil slick that ran through the lane.

Her foot slammed hard on the brakes. She tries to jerk the wheel in the opposite direction it wanted to turn, to attempt regain control of the car- but she couldn't do anything but spin out. Spin out and watch with horror as she inched toward the railway that divided her from falling into the river. 

Every single thing in her body amplified, she could hear and feel it all. Her breathing. Her heartbeat. The hairs standing up on her arms and the back of her neck. All the blood rushing through her veins. Every muscle in her body tensing and bracing for impact.

And as her car fell toward the dark as ink wall of water the whole world began to move in slow motion. Her head collides with the steering wheel before it all fades into black...

_“Lucy,” Amy pushed on her shoulder, “Wake up it's almost midnight.”_

_Lucy groaned and rolled over toward her sister. “It's really not that big of a deal-”_

_“-It only happens once in your lifetime! It is a big deal...” Amy pulled back the blanket. “Get up.”_

_“You're insufferable.” Lucy frowned and pulled her legs over the edge of the bed._

_“Ah, but you love me anyway.” Amy smirked. “I'll get the mirror from my room!” she all but squealed in her delight._

_She changed into a sports bra and some running shorts before Amy swooped back in, her younger sister cursing under her breath when she accidentally stubbed her toe on the dresser._

_Propping the mirror up against it, Amy moved around Lucy and flopped down on the bed behind her. Switching on the bedside lamp. “I'll watch your back, okay?”_

_Lucy nodded and took in her reflection. Waiting and waiting for her words to appear..._

_And when the clock hit midnight, it stings only slightly as they emerge, she gazes at her ribs where the point of infliction seemed to be centered. “It's here.” Lucy says in amazement and feels the rush of energy when Amy comes up to her side to see._

_“Turn toward the light.” Amy said and Lucy followed._

_It's slower than she expected. Like it was contemplating the words as one letter formed followed by nothing at all. Just a lonely **C**... ___

____

____

_“Why's it that-” Lucy began and then toppled over, clutching at her side and groaning._

_“Lucy!” Amy shouted, wrapping her arms around her as they both went to the floor in a heap._

_“God, it hurts...”_

_She's squeezing Amy's hand so hard she can feel the bones grinding together; both of them watching with wide eyes as each of the letters carved into her. All thirteen of the letters coming in one after the other, in painfully slow succession._

_Three very simple words are what she's left with; when apart they meant little to nothing at all- when combined together as they were, projected a rather threatening message._

**Come-on, Breathe.**

_She's sweating, laying flat against the floor, staring up at Amy, telling her there's no need to wake up their mother or father, that Lucy was fine._

__

_Amy gently pulled Lucy's palm off the words, “I've never seen one that color before. What do you think it means?” she asked._

Her head is pulsating as she blinks disorientation away; touching at her forehead and finding a tacky substance streaming down her temple. She has a moment of confusion, _why am I rocking? Why am I bleeding?_ \- and then she turns her eyesight forward at the mouth of water that has already devoured pieces of the car. 

Panic rises inside her. Shaking hands fumble with the seatbelt as she unfastens it. Lucy tries to press the horn, to alert someone, anyone of her existence. But the sound was too muted and too gargled to sound like distress. 

She pushes at the door, but it wouldn't budge, it was like pushing at a wall and expecting it to move. It was half under, the water quickly coming to the window. _Claustrophobia was a terrible thing to have in a situation like this..._

In desperation she bangs on the window. Bangs and bangs until her palms tingled and burned bright red. Watching in horror as distant lights glint and fade away; as passersby remained utterly oblivious to her. 

“Please! Someone help me!” 

Screaming, screaming, and screaming until her lungs gave out, until her vocal cords were raw and hoarse; the pleas begun to sound more like croaks. Her chest rose and fell in a staccato beat as her breaths came and went in labored puffs. 

_Come-on, Breathe._

The words ricocheted around her brain and she struggled to listen. Struggled to take in a steady inhale to calm the hyperventilating. To still her heart and just-

Think Lucy, think. 

_“Lucy, they're kind of ominous... why wouldn't you be breathing?” Amy reached over and touched her hand that rested to the left of the tattoo. “In what situation would you meet someone, asking you to breathe?”_

Through the years the words brought her an odd sort of comfort, before a debate or speech _Come-on, breathe_ , would steady her; more often than not she'd find herself touching where they were to ground herself. To the point that it became a ritual. 

But as the voice of her sister faded- as all the comforting memories eased out of her mind, and as the water slid up her thighs- Lucy knew what situation she'd be in, and it was not even the slightest bit _comforting._

__

__

Lucy was going to drown.

She's shivering uncontrollably when the water reaches her waist. Her legs had gone numb, the water was like ice. Her teeth were chattering and she reckons her lips might have gone blue. She hikes up onto the seat and climbs toward the back where the air pocket seemed to be moving. The nose of the car falling quicker now that they were submerged completely. 

There was nothing she could do but watch as the car floated down to the bottom of the river. The air was dwindling, each minute that ticked by less and less remained. 

The fear she was experiencing was the kind she's only been familiar with in nightmares. Of falling, falling, falling and never hitting the ground. All twisted stomaches and weightlessness.

_Come-on, Breathe._

_He's going to save me..._

A voice tells her as the water climbs around her shoulders, wrapping its chilly fingers around her throat. Lucy pushes up to the air pocket until her lips were basically kissing the roof. It's very short after that, happening in mere seconds; she has enough time to take one last inhale and then the next everything is quiet. Everything is gone. The air to sustain her- perished. 

_Open the door-_

Her brain says, but her body wouldn't answer, her lungs were aching already, the breath she took just wasn't enough. It knew that this was the final chapter in Lucy Preston's life; and she's resigned to this feeling of certain death. 

_Please..._

Something wills from inside her, but didn't it know it was all so hopeless? That fate had new plans and she's already lost a whole lot of the air inside her lungs; that there was a long (long) way up to the surface. 

_Fight-_

Her soul seemed to tell her, the pleading becoming more and more persistent, something else forming- no, not something, but _someone_. A warmth that resembles something akin to life fills her, a gentle heartbeat, completely out of sync with her own, was quickly gaining in pace. 

That's when the tattoo ignited, different from the way that it formed, more precise, more concentrated- more like the words were being flayed open as she finally listened and pushed with all the strength that she could muster- the door opening against the water. 

She was a strong swimmer, but even as she kicked toward the surface she knew it was unreachable. The already dark water seemed to be vignetting at the edges of her vision. Her head was spinning, her chest in such horrible pain- her heart gave the impression of giving out, and that it could occur at any single moment. 

The sound of silence was almost peaceful. Staring up at the fractured pale moonlight reflecting along the surface; appearing miles away from where she was suspended. 

She puts more strength into her arms, more purpose into her kicks- _(but that feeling)_ that dreadful aching in her lungs, she wasn't going to make it. _I'm sorry... I, I tried..._ she projected, hoping her soul could just relay the message to him, wherever he was... 

She chokes on the water once she couldn't hold it any longer. 

-x-

_“Come-on, Breathe.” He's pumping on her chest, over and over and over. “Come-on! Damn it, breathe!” he yells as he continues chest compressions, “You can't die here, you don't die here...”_

Lucy sputters back to life in violent coughs, feeling strong hands push her onto her side as she retches up all the water that she consumed.

“We have to go!” A voice shouts in the distance. 

He doesn't leave her, she's still retching, as his hand takes to rubbing along her back. Lucy attempts to open her eyes though the harsh white light of headlights pointing directly at them is a sharp penetration to the back of her brain, and immediately she regrets it. 

Lucy releases a groan, pinching her eyes shut as arms slip into the crook of her knees and behind her back, cradling her against a broad chest.

“You saved me...” She whispers against the person's heart, listening to it beat frantically beneath her ear. 

Then he halts, a noise coming out of him that could have been mistaken for a sob. Her tattoo was pulsing, the burning and flaying more like yearning. He cooed down to her in a language she didn't understand, words ushered like that of a prayer. Despite almost dying, in his arms she felt oddly comfortable, oddly sedated.

They travel a short distance to a place where she was out of the way from the road and oncoming traffic. 

His features were still consumed by the darkness of the night, even the headlights provided some kind of coverage to keep his identity anonymous. The moonlight gave a very brief highlight to the bridge of his nose and the curve of his lips when he turned to gaze back at the person over his shoulder.

“We're running out of time, we have to go.” The voice near the car said before the door shut and the lights moved off her vision. 

His soaked clothing of a simple short sleeve shirt and jeans clinging to his tall and lean body. He didn't give off the appearance of someone older- yet even with his hair wet and dripping she could see the streaks of grey, more of it grey than black. 

Before the stranger could slip off into the night, disappearing just as quickly as he appeared; she instinctively lunges forward from her sitting position, grabbing at his arm. Stopping him from leaving.

He wouldn't turn to look at her, keeping her at his back, but he quivered under her touch, she could see it ripple down his spine and through his muscles. Though she had no strength to stand and move around him, to try to unveil the face of her savior. 

“Thank you.” She offers weakly.

His palm clasped over her fingers on his forearm. Moving his calloused thumb over the back of her knuckles; before his head dipped into a stiff nod. 

After she releases him, Lucy stares at the spot he left long after his shadow was gone. 

_When her family gets to the hospital she doesn't mention the real reason she was traveling home so late, why she was in such a need to speak with her mother._

 _She'll call Derek in the morning and tell him it's just not written in the stars for her to be a musician._

_Let him know that destiny had other plans for her- and that she wasn't going to tempt fate anymore._

_She's going to stay the course._

**Author's Note:**

> Stiv being Lorena's brother was head!canon'd by Twilight-Deviant and she made me love it so much that I included it in this AU. 
> 
> Thank you Twilight. :)


End file.
